Control valve and fluid motor arrangement

ABSTRACT

A control valve for a rotary type hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism comprising a hollow casing having therewithin a valve portion and a manifold portion, pressurized oil feeding and discharging ports communicated with the valve portion, a spindle slidably and rotatably mounted in the hollow casing, and a pair of oil paths axially formed in the spindle and communicated with long grooves open to the valve portion in the hollow casing. The valve is further provided with means to feed back thereto the motion derived from the servo-actuating mechanism.

States Patent [1 1 Feb. 4, 1975 CONTROL VALVE AND FLUID MOTOR ARRANGEMENT Inventors: Youichi Saida, Kawasaki; Hajime Ito, Yokohama; Kojiro Imanaga, Tokyo, all of Japan Mitsubishi Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo-to, Japan Filed: May 24, 1973 Appl, No.5 363,338

Assignee:

Foreign Application Priority Data May 27, 1972 Japan 47-62484 May 27, 1972 Japan 47-62483 U.S. Cl. 91/375 R, 91/383 I1nt.Cl. F15b 9/10 Field of Search 91/383, 375 R References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1938 Lichte 91/375 Primary Examiner-Paul E. Maslousky Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack [57] ABSTRACT A control valve for a rotary type hydraulic servoactuating mechanism comprising a hollow casing having therewithin a valve portion and a manifold portion, pressurized oil feeding and discharging ports communicated with the valve portion, a spindle slidably and rotatably mounted in the: hollow casing, and a pair of oil paths axially formed in the spindle and communicated with long grooves open to the valve portion in the hollow casing. The valve is further provided with means to feed back thereto the motion derived from the servo-actuating mechanism.

1 Claim, 12 Drawing lFigures Pmmanmws.

SHEET 2 OF 3 .FIG.3

FIG.7

PATENIEB SHEET 3 OF 3 FIG.8.

A CONTROL VALVE AND FLUID MOTOR ARRANGEMENT This invention relates to a control valve, and, more particularly, it is concerned with a hydraulic type control valve which is actuated by rotary motion, linear motion, and a composite motion of the abovement-ioned two motions to be imparted thereto, and further provided with a feedback mechanism, by which the motion derived from a hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism is fed back to the control valve.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a servo-control valve of simple construction and accurate performance, which is capable of generating rotary motion or linear motion as desired in the hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism in response to the linear motion, or rotary motion, or a composite motion of both linear and rotary motions derived from a servoactuator, and which is provided with a feedback mechanism to feed back to the control valve the motions derived from the hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism.

According to the present invention, in one aspect thereof, there is provided a control valve comprising in combination a hollow casing provided at a position adjacent to one end thereof with a section defining a valve portion, and provided at a position adjacent to the opposite end thereof with a section defining a manifold portion, a pressurized oil feeding port and a pressurized oil discharging port, both being connected to said valve portion, a spindle concentrically mounted in said hollow casing in a freely slidable and rotatable manner, and a pair of oil paths axially formed within said spindle and extending from said valve portion upto said manifold portion, said oil paths bored in said spindle being each provided with a long groove open to said valve portion in said hollow casing.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control valve further including a feed back mechanism constructed with a pair of pulleys and an endless belt tensioned thereon.

The foregoing objects and other objects of the present invention, and the operations thereof will become more apparent and understandable from the following detailed description, when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIG. I is a view in longitudinal cross-section showing one embodiment of the control valve according to the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a side view of the spindle for use in the control valve shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of the spindle taken along the plane indicated by a line 2B-2B in FIG. 2A;

FIG. 2C is a cross-sectional view of the spindle taken along the plane indicated by a line 2C-2C in FIG. 2A;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the valve section ofthe device shown in FIG. 1 taken along the plane indicated by a line lII-IIl;'

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross-section showing a modification of the control valve mechanism shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the control device in FIG. 4 taken along the plane indicated by a line VV;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of a bush for use in the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the bush shown in FIG. 6 taken along the plane indicated by a line VII- -VII;

FIG. 8 is a side view in longitudinal cross-section showing another embodiment of the control valve according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the valve section of the device shown in FIG. 8 taken along the plane indicated by a line IX-IX;

FIG. 1.0 is a cross-sectional view of the feedback mechanism provided in the device shown in FIG. 8 taken along the plane indicated by line X-X.

Referring now to FIG. I of the accompanying drawing, the servocontrol valve 10 according to the present invention is constructed with a hollow casing I provided therein with a pressurized oil feeding port 5 and a pressurized oil discharging port 6, and a spindle 3 provided therein with a pair of internal oil paths 7 and 8 bored mutually in parallel in the axial direction thereof and mounted oil-tight in the casing l.

The casing 1, in one half thereof (e.g., left side), is provided with a section defining a valve portion 25, and, in its remaining half part (e.g., right side), with a section defining a manifold portion 4. In the construction shown in FIG. 1, this manifold portion 4 consists of two chambers of 4A and 4B, each of which is connected to a desired hydraulic rotary servo mechanism, e.g., hydraulic actuating chambers on both sides of the hydraulic actuating cylinder through appropriate pipings (not shown) to be fitted to the respective connecting port 22 or 23.

The spindle 3 performs not only relative rotational movement with respect to the casing l, but also linear movement in the axial direction thereof as it is mounted oil-tight in the casing I in a slidable manner.

One of the oil paths bored within the spindle in its axial direction is open at its one end (the left end in the drawing) to the valve portion 25 situated beneath the pressurized oil feeding port 5, and, at its other end (the right end in the drawing) to the left oil chamber 4A of the manifold portion 4. The other oil path 8 is open at its one end (the left end in the drawing) to the valve portion 25, and, at its the other end (the right end in the drawing) to the left oil chamber 48 of the manifold portion 4. These oil paths 7 and 8 are communicated to the valve portion 25 by means of radially extending oil paths 7A and 8A, respectively, which in turn communicate with long grooves 31 and 32 respectively formed on the outer periphery of the spindle 3. Each of the oil paths 7 and S, the pressurized oil feeding port 5 and the pressurized oil discharging port 6 are so arranged interrelatedly that, when the oil path 7 is connected to the pressurized oil feeding port 5 through the long groove 31, the oil path 8 is communicated with the pressurized oil discharging port 6, and, conversely, when the oil path 7 is connected to the pressurized oil discharging port 6, the oil path 8 is communicated with the pressurized oil feeding port 5. The long grooves 31, 32 are in spiral form as shown in FIG. 2A.

As shown in FIG. 3, the pressurized oil feeding port 5 of the casing l is connected to an oil port 34 ofa bore 33 formed in the casing I through a radially extending passage 5A, and the pressurized oil discharging port 6 is connected to two oil ports 35 and 36 of the bore 33 through a radially extending passage 6A and an arcuate passage 68.

The oil ports 34, 35 and 36 of the casing l and the long grooves 31 and 32 formed on the outer periphery of the spindle 3 are so interrelatedly disposed that, when the spindle 3 is rotated clockwise from its neutral position as shown in FIG. 3, the long grooves 31 and 32 respectively meet with the oil ports 34 and 36 of the casing 1, and, conversely, when the spindle 3 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, the long grooves meet with the oil ports 35 and 34, respectively.

In the actual operations of the control valve according to the present invention, when the spindle 3 is rotated in the clockwise direction from its position manifold in FIG. 3, the long grooves 31 of the spindle meets with an oil port 34 which communicates to the pressurized oil feeding port 5, and, at the same time, the long groove 32 meets with an oil port 36 which communicates to the pressurized coil discharging port 6. In this consequence, pressurized oil is fed into the left oil chamber 4A of the manifold 4 through the oil feeding port 5, radially extending passage 5A, oil port 34, long groove 31, and oil paths 7A and 7. Simultaneously, pressurized oil in the ri g ht oil chamber 48 of the manifold 4 is discharged from and oil discharging port 6 through the oil paths 8 and 8A, long groove 32, oil port 36, arcuate passage 68, and radially extending passage 6C.

On the other hand, when the spindle 3 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction from its neutral position, the long groove 31 of the spindle meets with the oil port 35 communicating with the oil discharging port 6, while the long groove 32 meets with the oil ports 34 communicating with the oil feeding port 5, whereby the oil feeding and discharging relation to and from the manifold portion 4 becomes just opposite that in the case of the clockwise rotation of the spindle 3. Consequently, the oil is fed into the right oil chamber 48 of the manifold 4, and is discharged from the left oil chamber 4A. Thus, it is apparent from the construction of the spiral long grooves 31 and 32 that similar operations can be performed by the linear motion of the spindle 3 in the axial direction thereof (i.e., sliding motion).

FIG. 4 is a modification of the control valve shown in FIG. I, in which a bush 2 is fixedly mounted at the left end of the casing l. The inner surface of the bush 2 is oil-tightly contacted with the outer periphery of the spindle 3.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the bush 2 is provided on its outer periphery with three spiral, long grooves 11, 12, and 13. The middle groove 12 is communicated with the pressurized oil feeding port 5, and the other grooves 11 and 13 are communicated with the pressurized oil discharging port 6 through the oil paths 6A and 6B.

Thus, these three spiral grooves l1, l2 and 13 of the bush 2 fitted to the casing 1 and the oil paths 7 and 8 of the spindle 3 constitute the principal part of the control valve 10 of the modified construction according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 indicates that the spindle 3 of the control valve path is in a neutral position. When the spindle is rotated in the clockwise direction from its neutral position, the spiral long groove 12 meets with the oil path 8A, and the pressurized oil feeding port 5 becomes communicated with the right oil chamber 48 of the manifold portion 4 through the oil paths 8A and 8, whereby oil is poured into the oil chamber 48. Simultaneously, the spiral grooves 11 meets with the oil path 7A, and the pressurized oil discharging port 6 becomes communicated with the left oil chamber 4A of the manifold portion 4 through the oil path 6A, groove 11, and oil paths 7A and 7, whereby the oil in the oil chamber 5 4A is discharged.

Feeding and discharging of the pressurized oil to and from both oil chambers 4A and 4B of the manifold portion 4 result in the feeding and discharging of oil to and from a hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism. for example, oil chambers on both sides ofa piston in a hydraulic cylinder.

On the other hand. when the spindle is rotated from its neutral position in the counterclockwise direction as seen on FIG. 5, the spiral long groove 12 meets with the oil path 7A, and the spiral long groove 13 simultaneously meets with the oil path 8A with the consequence that the pressurized oil is fed into the oil chamber 4A of the manifold portion 4 and is discharged from the oil chamber 48 thereof.

Similar result can be obtained by shifting the spindle 3 in the axial direction thereof relative to the casing 1. That is, in FIG. 6, when the spindle 3 is moved to the right along its axis, the oil path 7A of the spindle 3 meets with the spiral long groove 11 for oil discharging, and the oil path 8A meets with the spiral long groove 12 for oil feeding, whereby the pressurized oil is discharged from the oil chamber 4A through the oil path 7, and is fed into the oil chamber 48 through the oil path 8. Conversely, when the spindle 3 is moved to the left along its axis, the oil path 7 meets with the spiral long groove 12 for oil feeding and the oil path 8A with the spiral long groove 13 for oil discharging, so that the oil chamber 4A is filled with oil through the oil path 7 35 and the oil chamber 48 is drained through the oil path As seen from FIG. 1, the spindle 3 is connected to a rotary input source 14 such as a pulse motor by way of a spline 9 fitted at the extreme left end of the spindle. The numeral 14A designates a sleeve with spline as fitted to the pulse motor 14. Further, the spindle 3 is con nected to' a shifting lever 17 for shifting the spindle in its axial direction through a collar 15 and a connecting rod 16. The connecting rod 16 is mounted on the collar 15 in a freely rotatable manner at its one end, and is fixed to the shifting lever 17 at its other end. The shifting lever 17 is held by supporting members 18 and 19 in a freely slidable manner, while it is constantly pressed leftward by force of a spring 21. The shifting lever 17 can be adjusted in the axial direction by an adjusting screw 20.

Referring now to FIG. 8 which shows another embodiment of the control valve according to the present invention, there is provided a pulley 30 at the left end of the casing 1 of the control valve 10, and, adjacent to this pulley 30, there is disposed another pulley 28 which is mounted on and supported by a rotary shaft 27 for a rotary type hydraulic actuating mechanism. Both pulleys 28 and 30 are joined by an endless belt 29 tensioned therebetween. The pulley 30 is driven by the revolution of the pulley 28 through the belt 29.

This additional mechanism functions to feed back to the control valve the motion of the rotary type hydraulic actuating mechanism 26 which is driven by the control valve per se. In more detail, when the rotary type hydraulic actuating mechanism 26 is rotated by the control valve according to the present invention for a predetermined required quantity, the casing 1 performs a following rotation by way of the pulley 28, belt 29, and pulley 30 in response to the rotational quantity so as to reinstate the original neutral state of the casing l and the spindle 3 as shown in FIG. 9 from their relative positional relationship caused by the rotation, to offset the output of the control valve, and to cause the rotary type hydraulic actuating mechanism 26 to stop at its rotated position. Accordingly, in proportion to the rotational displacement ofthe pulse motor 14, there can be obtained an output rotational displacement on the hydraulic actuating mechanism.

As explained in the foregoing, the control valve according to the present invention is capable of being actuated by the rotary input source 14 and the linear input source 17 as well, and, moreover, it can be actuated by a composite motion of the rotary and linear motions. Further, as the control valve according to the present invention is so designed that the manifold portion 4 is connected to a desired hydraulic actuating mechanism by means of an appropriate piping, there is no inconvenience to take place at all, even when the control device needs be installed at a location remote from the actuating mechanism. Moreover, by provision of the feedback mechanism, the hydraulic actuating mechanism is actuated in accordance with the oil feeding and discharging to and from the manifold portion, the motion of which is fed back to the casing 1.

What we claim is:

1. In combination,

I. a control valve for a rotary type hydraulic servoactuating mechanism, comprising a. a hollow casing with a portion of one end defined as a valve portion, and at the other end a portion defined as ,a manifold portion, said manifold portion having passage means adapted to be connected to the hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism, and said casing further having in the valve portion a pressurized oil feeding port and a pressurized oil discharging port, and

b. a spindle concentrically mounted insaid hollow 2. a'feedback mechanism comprising a. a first pulley fitted on one end of said hollow casing, b. a rotary shaft adapted to be: driven by the rotary type hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism,

0. a second pulley mounted on said rotary shaft,

said second pulley being disposed in alignment with said first pulley, and

d. a belt tensioned between said pulleys, whereby the motion derived from the rotary type hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism is fed back to the 

1. In combination,
 1. a control valve for a rotary type hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism, comprising a. a hollow casing with a portion of one end defined as a valve portion, and at the other end a portion defined as a manifold portion, said manifold portion having passage means adapted to be connected to the hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism, and said casing further having in the valve portion a pressurized oil feeding port and a pressurized oil discharging port, and b. a spindle concentrically mounted in said hollow casing in a freely slidable and rotatable manner, said spindle having a pair of oil paths extending axially within said spindle from said valve portion to said manifold portion, long grooves spirally formed on the outer periphery of said spindle open to said valve portion, and radially extending oil paths connecting said axial oil paths with said long grooves; and
 2. a feedback mechanism comprising a. a first pulley fitted on one end of said hollow casing, b. a rotary shaft adapted to be driven by the rotary type hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism, c. a second pulley mounted on said rotary shaft, said second pulley being disposed in alignment with said first pulley, and d. a belt tensioned between said pulleys, whereby the motion derived from the rotary type hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism is fed back to the control valve.
 2. a feedback mechanism comprising a. a first pulley fitted on one end of said hollow casing, b. a rotary shaft adapted to be driven by the rotary type hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism, c. a second pulley mounted on said rotary shaft, said second pulley being disposed in alignment with said first pulley, and d. a belt tensioned between said pulleys, whereby the motion derived from the rotary type hydraulic servo-actuating mechanism is fed back to the control valve. 